Number 147
by StoriesAreMagic
Summary: Gru isn't quite sure about this... Luckily for him, his daughters are there to help.


"You ready, gurls? You each have something to ask about?"

The three girls in dresses nodded in unison and giggled to each other as Gru peeked carefully around the corner. Lucy was sitting in the little booth in the kitchen, trying to coax Kyle into her lap or at least onto the seat so she could pet him.

Gru took a deep breath. "Oh-key. Oh-key oh-key oh-key. I can do this. Oh-key oh-key oh-key oh-key oh-key... I can't do this!"

Mortified, he covered his face with his hands. Something tugged at his leg and he looked down. Three small faces were smiling up at him.

"YOU might not be able to do this," Edith began.

"But WE can," Margo finished. "All four of us."

"Yay!" Agnes squealed with joy.

He knelt and asked "Are you all shure you are good with this?"

Edith shrugged and played with her dress sleeves, but her huge grin told it all.

"Yeah!" Agnes was bouncing up and down with excitement, poofy skirt flying around her.

Margo adjusted her dress and gave him a thumbs-up. "We're ready."

Gru adjusted his shoe, straightened his scarf, stood up, knelt back down, was pushed back up by a team of minions standing by specifically for that purpose, and took a deep breath. "All right. Let us do this thing."

They walked into the kitchen, the three girls crowding around Gru's legs and all talking at once. (Kyle ran off, scared of the noise.)

"Why so fancy, kids?" Lucy asked, looking their dresses.

Seemingly not hearing her, Gru bent down and said "Gurls, I love you, but I need to finish dinner. Will you help me with the gurls, Lucy?"

"Of course!" Lucy waved the three over to her.

Shrugging, they formed a giggly age-order line next to their guest.

"I'm going to grab, uh, an apron," Gru called as he vanished from the room.

"Okay, hurry back!" Lucy yelled. She turned to the line of excited girls in front of her. "What did you want help with?"

"Well, some of the girls at school have been teasing me about always wearing my hair in a ponytail," Margo explained, holding up a handful of barrettes. "Will you help me with my hair, Lucy?"

"Well, I could do a bun or a braid or something, but I always thought you liked having your hair in a ponytail."

Margo shrugged and looked away. "Yeah. It works really well. But I don't know anymore."

Lucy put her hands on the brunette's shoulders and smiled as Margo looked up at her. "Don't listen to them. If you like your hair the way it is, then it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. It's perfect however YOU want it."

"Thanks, Lucy," Margo said almost shyly. She walked away to help Gru with his t- I mean, apron.

Lucy looked at Edith, who was staring at the floor. "Edith? What's the matter kiddo?"

Edith was absorbed in tracing a line on the floor with her tennis shoe. "Uh, it's nothing."

"If it's got you worried, then it's not nothing," Lucy said practically. "If you need some help, I'm here for you. If you don't want to talk, then that's okay too."

Edith pulled her hands out from behind her back and, without looking up. showed a bundle of paper. "Will you help me with my homework rewrite, Lucy?"

"'My family history'." Lucy read it quickly, laughing here and there. "This is really funny! I especially like the phrase 'family is what you make of it, and my family is homemade'. Edith, this is wonderful!"

Edith flipped the packet over. "Mr Tungsten didn't think so."

"Isn't he the one who doubts Gru is your father?" Lucy asked as she took the paper and looked at the back. "You got a 'D'. How can such a fantastic paper get a 'D'? 'Miss Edith, this is an interesting story but your grammar and spelling are highly dissapointing'. He misspelled disappointing."

"That's not even the worst part," Edith grouched. "He says my handwriting is 'nearly unreadable' and I was supposed to be writing my family history, but 'this is a strange fantasy'. And he says I was lying about having a ninja outfit! I totally have a ninja outfit!"

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Lucy remarked. She pulled out a pen and scribbled a note on the back on the back of the last paper, reading it aloud as she wrote. "To Mr Tungsten. Normally one would begin a letter with 'Dear', but in my opinion, you haven't earned that right."

Edith's mouth dropped. Agnes giggled.

"To my knowledge (I have no idea of Gru's family history, but I trust Edith), everything Edith has written is completely true, if not toned down to be appropriate for school. For example, she did shut herself in an Iron Maiden when she first came to her adoptive father's house. Gru has punched a shark before for the sake of his girls and literally gave up the moon for them. Edith has a perfectly authentic ninja outfit complete with swords, nunchucks, and other various weaponized accessories. It's a fact that I taze d Gru and stuffed him into my car trunk when I first met him. And Edith is telling the truth she says her father first asked me on a date while we were riding a rocket towards a volcano, although the live shark and 250 pounds of dynamite had already fell off when he did so. I may have neglected to share that detail with her. In conclusion, I look forward to Gru's description of a parent-teacher conference with you. Completely and sincerely, Lucy Wilde, Anti-Villian League agent."

Lucy handed the packet of paper to Edith, who had just finished rolling on the floor with laughter (and crumpling her dress in the process). "He's gonna have a heart attack when he reads this!"

"I hope paramedics are standing by," Lucy responded casually as Edith ran out to check on Gru and his tux- APRON! Totally an apron.

"I scraped my knee riding my unicorn outside," Agnes spoke up, pulling herself up onto the seat. "Look."

Lucy looked. "Oh, honey! It's stopped bleeding, but I'm sorry that happened. I think I've got a few bandadges in my bag."

"Will you help me with my knee getting better, Lucy?" Agnes asked sweetly.

"Of course." Lucy picked the little girl up, gently placed her on the table, and lifted the hurt knee to her lips for a kiss before putting on a Band-Aid.

Agnes smiled.

"Lucy?" Gru asked, finally emerging. Edith and Margo followed him, giggling wildly.

The redheaded woman looked up and gasped. Next to her on the table, Agnes kicked her legs gleefully.

Gru wore a pressed black tuxedo and grey striped tie that on closer examination turned out to be his scarf. A spray of minion-yellow roses poked out of his pocket and he shyly held out a matching corsage.

Lucy took it, smiling widely. "Mmm, smells like bananas."

"Bananas?" Gru asked, puzzled. "Oh. Dave and Stewart must have been fixing the fahrt guns. Sorry."

"It's fine, they still smell great," Lucy reassured, taking another sniff. She giggled in anticipation. "What's the special occasion?"

"Well," Gru hesitated, fiddling with his fingers and looking down. "Oh lookie there, my shoelace is untied and it is completely an accident, not planned at all. How purely coincidental."

Lucy muffled a laugh, as did Margo. Agnes and Edith, however, had no such thoughts, as they burst out giggling.

Gru went down on one knee (Lucy gasped) and took off his dress shoe. "Will you help me with my shoelace, Lucy?"

"Oh. Okay," Lucy said, trying not to sound sad. She had been expecting something else.

She stood and nimbly began tying. Or at least, she tried. "Where's the other end? I can only find one."

"It's tucked inside the shoe," Margo 'observed'.

Lucy pulled it out and gasped. There, tied to the end of the lace, dangled a delicate ring. It was three slim bands wound together into one. Two diamonds sprouted from the top, surrounded by a pattern of blue, pink, and green stones. Even though all the pieces were so different, they worked together to make one perfect ring.

Gru took the ring and untied it from his shoelace. And then there, kneeling on the kitchen floor, a dress shoe on one foot and a sock on the other, minions crowding in the doorway and at the windows (many tearing up), with three young girls looking on excitedly, Gru said "We've asked you for lots of help with things tonight. I want to ask for just a leetle more. Will you help me with everything for the rest of my life, Lucy? Will you marry me?"

Smiling uncontrollably and unable to speak through the happy tears, Lucy nodded.

Gru gently took her left hand and slid on the ring. In unison, Margo, Agnes, and the minions 'awww'ed. Edith pretended to gag, but she was smiling.

Lucy admired her ring a moment more, then pulled a small box from her purse. In a tear-choked voice, she said "I've been carrying this around for I don't know how long. May I?"

Gru gave her his left ring finger and she put on a thick metal band decorated with small colorful stones.

"I know it's not much, but-"

Gru put a finger on her lips. "It's beautiful. I love it. I love you."

"I love you," Lucy returned, staring into his eyes.

"Can we dogpile them?" Edith whined. "I am so ready to get rid of the mushiness."

"Yeah," Margo decided.

The three girls took a running leap and tackled their dad and mom-to-be into a giant hug.


End file.
